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Post by Blueysicle on Apr 28, 2018 22:30:20 GMT -5
Kung Fu PandaNow, when it comes to animated movies, the company I tend to gravitate towards the most is Pixar, as I feel that they are the most consistent. If I see a Pixar movie, there is a very high chance that I'm going to see something that I'm going to enjoy. (That chance isn't 100% though; see my review for Ratatouille) Dreamworks, on the other hand, tends to be a lot more hit-or-miss for me. When they're good, they're really, really good. (How To Train Your Dragon) When they're bad, they're awful. (Shark Tale)
So where does Kung Fu Panda stand?
Well, it hit the target. It didn't make a bullseye and instead hit one of the outer rings, but the arrow didn't go flying off into the distance either.
I want to put this out here before going any further that I've never really watched any kung-fu or martial arts movies - at least none that I can remember at the top of my head. In all honesty, the most exposure I've had to martial arts in fiction was Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. So I'm unaware of any of the tropes and cliches that are used in the genre, and thus I'm not able to comment much on that.
Moving along, I can definitely see the effort that went into creating a movie that has both slapstick comedy and a plot that is at times serious and driven by characters with depth. The slapstick in particular does feel like a little bit of fresh air when you consider that Dreamworks tends to gravitate towards humor that is either juvenile, gross-out, pop-culture laden, or just... stupid. (I can live a complete, fulfilling life if I never have to hear the words "Afro Circus" ever again)
Thing is, effort isn't the same thing as succeeding.
I don't want to criticize the slapstick on its own too much, because, well, it just usually isn't my kind of humor. Don't get me wrong, the other styles of humor that Dreamworks likes to dabble in definitely aren't either. In general, it is very difficult to get me to physically react in any way when consuming media, and that's especially true when it comes to comedy. If I come across a funny joke, I'll usually just sit there with a completely stoic expression as I think to myself, "Yeah, that was pretty funny." To get me to actually laugh is very hard to do. (I didn't mention this in its own review, but I will admit that the DMV scene in Zootopia did succeed in getting a laugh out of me) This movie was no exception. I feel that if I saw this movie when I was much younger, it might have been a different story, but seeing it now, it just didn't do much for me as far as the comedy is concerned. That, I think, is a more personal thing than something that I'd objectively hold against the movie. (I will say though that some jokes, like the candle-blowing scene and Po falling down the stairs felt like they lasted longer than they needed to)
What I will criticize with a stronger opinion is the overall tone that the slapstick creates. I'm fine with movies being light-hearted comedies. I'm fine with movies being serious dramas. And I'm more than okay with any sort of fiction combing the two. Most Pixar movies do this really well. And Kung Fu Panda definitely tries, but I just don't think it mixes the comedy and drama well enough.
The biggest example I can think of is the fights with Shifu and Tai Lung and then with Po and Tai Lung immediately afterwards. The first is dark and deadly serious where both the emotions and failings of each character are laid bare. (Shifu with how he was responsible for molding Tao Lung into the person he became and not noticing until it was too late, and Tai Lung for wanting to make Shifu proud and seeing the denial of the Dragon Scroll as a denial to what he's spend all his life working up to) The other is a brighter and more colorful fusion of martial arts and slapstick. The issue here is that it was just so jarring with how quickly it transitioned between the two, and even more so with how serious of a character Tao Lung had been up until that point.
Yes, I get the point that the narrative is trying to portray: That Tai Lung could only be defeated with Po's unconventional methods and that attempting to beat him at his own game, as Shifu and the Furious Five learned the hard way, will just end up in defeat. But again, I feel like instead of it leaving the impact I realize it was trying to leave, I just ended up with a case of Mood Whiplash. And that was only the most notable example I can think of. I'm not saying that a movie has to only stick with being either funny or serious, but if it's going to combine the two, then it needs to flow a lot better, otherwise it risks ruining the emotions in the serious scenes and/or making the timing of the jokes feel inappropriate.
Another thing is that Po, Shifu, and Tai Lung did feel like three-dimensional characters with their own backstories, personalities, motivations, and insecurities. The Furious Five, on the other hand... They were just kind of there. Aside from Tigress, the film barely explores anything about them. What do we know about most of them? They're really good at kung fu. And that's about it. To be brutally honest, I feel like nearly all of them could have been completely removed from the movie and the story given some rewrites, and the narrative wouldn't suffer much at all. Heck, going further with this, if the film-makers removed all of them but Tigress and took the opportunity to flesh her out more, the movie could have ended up stronger for it.
Now, I know that I have been rather negative here. But ultimately, I still think this is a good movie and there are some things that I think it did really well. The fight scenes -those that take themselves seriously, at least- are pretty exciting. Tai Lung's escape and his fight with the Furious Five (In spite of my above gripes about them) were particularly fun to watch. Though the overall message of "Believing in yourself" has been done a million times before, I do think the ultimate execution of it was well done with the Dragon Scroll being blank to deliver the message that there is no secret ingredient to success and power. And the times that the movie does show heart it does do a good job at it. But like I said, it's just a shame that it clashes too much with the humor and just overall feels like having a deep, serious, and heartfelt conversation with someone you care about suddenly end with a pie to the face.
I'd end the review here, but there is one more thing I want to say: I haven't seen either of the sequels. I have heard good things about them, though. It probably won't be in the immediate future, but I do eventually want to give the sequels a chance. And I hope that the problems I had with this one will have been fixed in those.
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Post by Ian Wolf-Park on Jul 14, 2018 21:19:47 GMT -5
Revival time! Again, these games are for the 3DS, with the first being available only with a physical copy (at one point, it was available on the Eshop as well). Project X Zone and Project X Zone 2 (the X is pronounced 'Cross', you'll see why) These two games are a collaboration between Sega, Namco-Bandai and Capcom (Nintendo is added in the second), so in a sense, these two games are a gateway to the games being featured (like Street Fighter, Resident Evil, and Megaman) if one hasn't either played or heard of the source games. Because of its nature as a crossover game, there will be spoilers to other games, like the second game casually revealing Fiora's (Xenoblade Chronicles) Mechon form. With so many characters from 4 game companies, there is actually an encyclopedia, which does ease the confusion if a person is unaware. I should also mention that both have voice acting only in Japanese, but it is subbed, so it might take a little bit of time to get used to, especially if you played one of the games in English
While you start out with a small cast, eventually, once you have all team members available, the pacing slows down to a crawl when you're battling enemies. This is more noticeable in the first game, where not only do you have your team, but tons of enemies to deal with. The second splits the playable and enemies turn, but also allows you to choose which characters you want to deploy (depending on the chapter that you're playing), thus making it more tolerable.
However, the second game is definitely the better one, story and game mechanics wise, but nonetheless, you should enjoy playing the game
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Post by Twillie on Apr 27, 2019 10:55:42 GMT -5
Blueysicle It's been a year now, and as I come back to this thread I'm reminded that I still want to respond to your Kung Fu Panda review! Your thoughts just inspired some of my own, so hopefully soon I can sit down and write them out lol, because what's better than chatting about animated movies =D But for now, speaking of animation, I have a little review of my own based off of what I got to see last night: Ratatouille!(also lol never mind that you also reviewed that movie on the last page, this isn't a response to anything, completely solo!) Ratatouille was one of the few original Pixar films I had yet to see, the only other I think being The Good Dinosaur, and every time one of my friends would find this out, their reaction was usually a mix of shock and horror. There's no real excuse for why I'd never seen it, it just happened to be one of those movies that fell to the wayside, and my friends would always insist that they'd get me to finally watch it.
Sooo, during the movie night I was hosting last night, naturally it was the film that they picked!
This isn't to say that I was completely unaware of the movie or anything that happens in it; I knew the main plot, characters, and theme, and had even watched some select scenes including the critic review at the end. So there weren't any real surprises, but that's honestly alright with me. If it's an atmosphere and message that I think I'll like, then that's really all I need to enjoy the movie.
And I gotta say, it was absolutely delightful! I love seeing and experiencing others' passions in general, so when that's the main journey of the lead character, I'm on board. It's just really inspiring to me, that reminder of the pureness of just loving to do something. Not doing it for any higher purpose other than it's what makes you happy, which makes Remy's motives and character all the more likeable.
The writing is also great- I love the dialogue, both for its cleverness and placement. It's a movie that knows how to go far with a little, and the scenes that don't require words at all work great.
Of course some things didn't really work for me, namely Linguini's character. It's funny because on paper you'd think he'd be a character I like, being an awkward lanky doof and all (at one point, a friend even turned to me and said, "He's like your character" (referring to Jonathon) to which I was just "nooooo don't say that T.T" x3;)
It's hard for me to pinpoint why exactly I didn't like him (he didn't even appeal to me before I fully saw the movie), but I think at least partially it's because the movie highlights his faults throughout but doesn't give enough redeeming qualities back. Admittedly, when he apologizes unprompted to Remy for taking all the credit, that was a sweet moment, but overall- to me at least- he's a character that starts at the bottom and ends up at the top, but without much admirable reason for how he got there. He and Colette together were also whatever.
But yeah, overall, I expected as much that I'd like the movie, as it's a sweet film that gives a nod to artists throughout it.
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Post by Gelquie on May 13, 2019 22:59:46 GMT -5
I am chronically late to the game on many things. Thank goodness for threads like these. ...And for Netflix actually hosting the stuff I really want to watch and thought I'd never be able to because How 2 Access. I've wanted to comment on this one a bunch of times while it was running, but didn't want to make commentary before watching all of it because doing that felt like inviting myself into Spoiler Central. But now that I've finished the anime, I feel I can comment freely. Death Note (anime)I thought this was a really well put-together psychological thriller! Stories where the villain is the protagonist always intrigued me, but it's super rare to find those. (And my writing style is more "people live and no one's a pure good or bad guy" anyway, so there was nothing from my end.) It was super intriguing to follow the mindset of a serial killer and how they went from "bored teen" to "mass murderer with a complex." What was even more super interesting was that the latter was immediately apparent to me. In like, the first episode. Sure, I can understand the mindset behind getting rid of a bunch of awful people; most good people don't find a thrill in it. That immediately told me the type of person we would be following: A sociopathic murderer. (I've been looking on various commentary places and finding people siding with Light, and I'm just like "?? He's a manipulative selfish guy who kills people for the thrill of it and just finds excuses to justify it." Like, I tend to try to empathize with most characters in most works. This one: "Yup, he's a murderer, please catch him, I will proceed to speak hints to the detectives through the screen as if they can hear me." It's particularly highlighted when his motives fall apart. Aside from him wanting to be God from the start, he quickly lowered his standards for who should be killed, from "they committed bad crimes" to "well, they're accused of a crime, but who needs a judge or any second opinion when you have me?" to "eh, they're lazy." Just coming from one who believes in rule of law and a system of checks and balances. xD These aren't complaints, by the way; I really like how this work handled this.) But anyway, I really like how they played with morality throughout. They had their stances, but there were a lot of grey areas that really made the audience think. I like how the antagonists (not villains) were grey-area themselves and set forth a lot of questionable tactics, with many of them being because that's just what happens when you're in that kind of situation. The dichotomy they created between Light and L is really fascinating, and you can even see where their ideals intersect without either one relenting too far to the other. Same with others, but it's particularly highlighted between those two, and it was a blast seeing those two act simultaneously. I also like how the anime took time to not always focus on the Super-Geniuses and focused on the others in-between and how they were taking things, especially as the world devolves around them. Even those not involved in the investigation end up affected (particularly when things get Bad), and it's great to see that overall effect to show what it's all meaning. And it particularly hits home because stuff like this mirrors a lot of real life stuff. Of course, there's no supernatural book of death IRL, but there are people who go to and follow such extremes in similar psychological manners for similar reasons. Many organized groups committing atrocities today believe that their ideals are Just and Right, no matter how many people die in the process or what they're doing as a whole. You can see a lot of that same mental process in Light, and in those who believe in the ideals of Kira. Specific spoiler stuff that stuck out to me (spanning to the end of the series; if you haven't seen it to the end there is no safe place for you in that box): Wow, this series really didn't spare the rod. But I guess that's to be expected in a story about People Dying. Kind of heavy consequences and chances they're playing with here. What really struck to me as the first sign that not even main characters would be spared was when Second Kira struck down one of the task force members. Just... right off. I didn't necessarily have emotional attachment to him, but it was a sign.
I was still really unprepared when L died. I'll admit, he's up there on my favorite characters. And it might be because I relate to him a lot. Not entirely; I'm not a super-genius detective who has that much issue talking to people without offending them. But he had so many quirks, didn't look like your typical detective, all the weirdnesses, and yet still competent and taken completely 100% seriously. Plus, I really like the mind-games he played with Light. When that episode aired, I had to stop binge-watching and take a break because I reaaaally did not want that to happen and was sad. I'd grown attached, I guess. xD
In hindsight, I've come to realize that it was the only thing that could've happened for the rest of the story, and it kinda makes sense for the message they're trying to portray. It demonstrates a few things: Just because there's a close rivalry doesn't mean the rival is guaranteed to win. Maybe they just help some of the way, but sometimes someone else has to take over in order to succeed. And also, L was very individualistic, and didn't always show his hand. Later, what helped lead to Kira's downfall were two rivals otherwise on the same side showing each other their hands and closing the gaps, thus ensuring victory; it's basically an argument for cooperation. (Plus, I feel L had gotten himself a tad too close to Light. Not always a good idea when you're investigating.)
Anyway, I like the story of L's successors, with my favorite being Near. (Who is apparently not popular? I dunno.) I didn't like Mello so much at first, but in later episodes and looking back at the whole thing, he's growing on me. Definitely wouldn't be the same without him. I keep seeing complaints like it not being the same without L. And... yeah, it's not. Sadly, sometimes investigations fail, and the bad guy wins, and they took an opportunity to show what happened with that. And Near and Mello are not L, though they clearly borrow aspects. They also haven't had as much experience as L, so it makes sense they would take different tactics and maybe even make more mistakes. I'd say they did pretty good, all things considered.
The final showdown worried me because I really wasn't sure if it'd be one of those Bad Guy Wins series (particularly since the bad guy is the protagonists, and the protagonists losing is uncommon), which I didn't want to happen for personal "nooo" reasons and for story reasons. But then I got to the final episode, and it was so satisfying. Near said almost everything I wanted to say about Kira's motives, and it was satisfying to see the other members of his task force be horrified and turn on him, because what else do you expect, really? It was also a great opportunity to see Kira's madness unfiltered by his attempts at poise. It showed very clearly how far he'd gone, and also gave the chance for his philosophy to actually be held up to scrutiny and utterly shut down.
Apparently, the anime ending was different from the manga ending, with the manga ending ending with Light whining, like he did in the puddle after he got shot, and the anime giving him a chance to escape so he can reflect before he dies. I don't mind either ending, really. It was all impactful and powerful, and shows just how much he was corrupted. It was interesting to have the anime show Light realizing that he'd gone too far, and utterly breaking over it. When it comes to people like that, I expect the former whining ending more, but the latter one isn't unrealistic either. It was a great send-off to a sociopathic murderer while still condemning him. Anyway, I really like the messages the story was trying to tell, and I think they told it all nicely and completely. I'd say it's a good solid story. It's only kind of a mystery since you know right off who the villain is, but there's plenty of mysteries in there. I treated it more as a psychological thriller, though. It is dark, but it's not dark for the sake of dark. (But I mean, it is about murder. It's gonna be dark and not Happy Fun Sunshine Land.) If you're okay with that, I'd say give it a chance if you have the opportunity. Because I had a really good time with this anime, and my only complaints are ultimately nitpicks compared to everything.
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Post by Thorn on May 24, 2019 0:14:31 GMT -5
Detective PikachuAhhh! So heartfelt, I really really enjoyed this movie. It fully reminds me of why Mewtwo was my fave as a kid too, they're so cool! <3
I really liked how it originally looked like a different Mewtwo origin story, but then turned out to be in the same 'verse as the older movies. I predicted that Howard would be caught up in the Bad Stuff, and that Pikachu would actually be his dad (because Pikachu was immune to the purple gas in the fight club.) But I did not at any stage consider that Howard's son would actually not be at all involved in the Badness!
I was also pleasantly surprised at how natural the connection between the two leads felt. It looks like it could lead to Something More, but it wasn't rushed- the romantic angle was not a primary focus of the film.
I love how Loudred was used in this film especially- so cool! <3 And I legit teared up when Tim and 'Pikachu' have the discussion about how he never got to make things up with his father.
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Post by Liou on Jul 19, 2019 14:48:24 GMT -5
Cats: the Musical: the Movie: the Trailer Hi thread! Only the trailer for this has come out, but I just have a few Thoughts I'd like to drop! I'm not even into Cats the musical or any musicals, by the way, I only have comments on this particular trailer! Oh, you haven't seen the trailer? Go on, go on, I'll wait! No no, I insist, I wouldn't want to comment before you've had a chance to see for yourself! All set? Well! That certainly was an experience! To start with, it reminded me of a certain vampire The performance in itself, dancing, singing, emoting, that looks quite fine to me really, and the whole thing of humans dancing in cat suits is typical of the musical and seems like a lot of fun! I just want to comment on the Fur Technology. The fact that they used CGI instead of elaborate makeup and costumes. I do appreciate that it probably means they didn't have the actors sit on a makeup chair for hours and hours before each shot! Something about these catpeople feels Uncanny, but sometimes it can be hard to put your finger on the Uncanny, right? For me, I've narrowed it down to these things: eyes/lips not meshing with the face, empty space where human ears should be, (anime catpeople have human hair around their face to help cover that gap!) cat ears higher above the face than on a real cat's proportions, the few shots I saw of the """""cats""""" walking could have used a bit more tiptoeing to look a bit less plantigrade and a tad more digitigrade, you know? but the main thing for me was: the fur doesn't seem to have volume. It's a fairly nice looking painted-on texture of fur. But it's flat. More like a short-haired dog's or a horse's coat than cat fur. Cat fur has more layers and moves over muscles and bunches up a little in places and seems to dip in others. This flatness both makes the actors' faces seem more edited-on, as the hairs don't quite move with their expressions - though there were some really nice facial expressions in this trailer! - and makes the full body silhouette look very smooth instead of fuzzy. Aside from all this the film seems fun and I hope the musical fans do enjoy it!
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Post by Twillie on Dec 22, 2019 22:16:52 GMT -5
I saw Cats today. I, a person who has never watched the show in any form before, went with my sister, an unironic Cats fan. I'd seen the trailers and some stills from the film, and had read some of the, uh, colorful reviews on social media. So, going into the movie, my sister and I were expecting nothing more than a beautiful mess. At best, it'd be an enjoyable spectacle, at worst, a miserable and boring time.
I.... had many feelings throughout the film and after leaving, but in short I'll say that I do not regret watching it xD Honestly, if you strip away the usual expectations of a film and prepare yourself for anything the film may give, it can be a lot of fun. Yes, they're weird CGI cat people. No, there's not much of a plot. These are just pills you gotta swallow before going in, as there's only more to come. All bets are off with Cats.
First off, the opening is super fun. Like, probably my favorite part of the movie. The opening number on its own is very energetic, and it really got me pumped with just how unapologetic the movie was about its conceit. This is a movie about cats in a junkyard, the former played by people crawling around on all fours and doing ballet moves, and the latter portrayed as a cat-themed city. This strange premise paired with no explanation on the movie's part, just the expectation that you accept it, makes it feel so different from any other movie these days. It's something I actually really respect about the film, as everything about its premise and tone is such a risk to release in the current movie climate.
About thirty seconds into the opening scene, my sister leaned to me and said, "I'm really enjoying myself."
The effects were also easier to get over than I anticipated (although there were still some rough points in the film that got an eyebrow raise from me). In terms of character design, there were some... odd choices. Macavity, the villain of the film, is portrayed as a dark brown/black cat, whereas in the stage show he's apparently supposed to be ginger. This wouldn't be so much of an issue if they didn't keep in the line "Macavity's a ginger cat" from his own song xD Also, according to my sister, Mr. Mistoffelees (do know that I am constantly cross-referencing wikipedia to get these spellings right lol) is supposed to be a small cat, maybe even a kitten, to pair with his more timid and shy nature. In the film, however, he's one of the taller cast members, so that effect is kind of lost.
After the first song, we're still doing good as we transition to some more world-building numbers. The beginning is also strong because these songs, while ensemble, are led by Munkustrap, who is in my opinion the best performance of the film. This character is kind of the narrator to the protagonist, Victoria, as she settles into her new life at the junkyard with the other cats. He explains how things work to her, and he's around for all the important events as he's second in charge. The actor is also 100% into the role, and every time he's onscreen it's a delight. His facial expressions, his body language, everything he does he's giving it his all, and it pays off wonderfully. *chef's kiss*
The transitions between songs weren't always the best, as there'd be some sudden tonal shifts or no buildup for the next song to start, but really it's easier to excuse that kind of stuff when there's not much story to prompt scene changes anyway. We're just here to watch cats sing and dance, it's all good. I also feel like this kind of stuff works better on an actual stage, and it's one of those things that just didn't translate well in adaptation.
Things really started to go downhill when Rebel Wilson cat showed up. She, like most every other cat, had her own song about who she is and what she does. In theory, this role makes sense as Rebel Wilson's comedy is often self-deprecating and centers on her appearance, and her character is supposed to be a chubby, clumsy cat. The execution, though, whoof. I'm not a huge fan of Rebel Wilson anyway, and I don't think she does improv or slapstick well, both of which basically defined her performance here. Her song also featured terrifying mice and cockroaches with human faces/bodies, making it probably the hardest to watch part of the film. You could skip over her song and have a better viewing.
James Corden cat I have the same feelings. His character is similar in that his gag is that he's fat, and while his song was less bad, it had some added jokes that went over very poorly. Really any "comedic" line either he or Rebel Wilson added into the script were just painful to sit through, and at times almost broke the atmosphere of the movie. You could skip James Corden song as well with nothing lost. In fact, just skip over any time these two are given the spotlight.
Jason Derulo cat was hilarious just for existing, and his song was fun. He shouts "Milk!" at one point, which made me happy.
There was also a pair of dancing cats that were wearing sneakers, but nothing else that I saw. It was very uncanny valley. I'm not sure why either, considering there were other cats wearing clothes. Just not shoes, I guess.
As the movie kept going, though, it did start to slow down, and in turn I was getting tired. It's not the fact that there's little plot, as I don't think that's an issue for a movie who doesn't set out to be storied anyway. The energy just didn't match the same thing we got at the beginning, and the movie wasn't offering much else to compensate. I held on, though, knowing that the film would have to shake things up sooner or later.
In one scene there was a dog threatening a couple of the cats, although it was off screen. I was actually terrified about if they might show it, just because I knew to keep things consistent that it'd have to be some weird human/dog/CGI hybrid barking at them. Thankfully they kept it hidden the whole time.
Jennifer Hudson plays Grizabella, the tragic figure of the movie, whose entire performance can be boiled down to ugly crying and singing. Not that I think it was a bad performance, far from it, just. That's all you're getting from her scenes xD Her final song as well was very well done; the music swells up so much because it really wants you to feel all the feelings, dangit.
At some point in the movie, I had no semblance of how much time had passed or what was still to come. I figured this was my life now, just Cats. I wasn't completely opposed to this, though; it felt I was constantly on the verge of being in an out-of-body state.
When the Jellicle Ball, aka the main event of the story, started, the energy picked up some here. We got some fun musical numbers, and Taylor Swift cat finally showed up! I was wondering when she'd make her appearance. Her performance was actually pretty good, she fit into the role given for her, and her dancing, singing, and cat design all worked.
Mr. Mistoffelees had his time to shine, which I enjoyed because he is Best Magic Boy <3
Eventually we finally got to where all the main story threads tied up, the jellicle cat was chosen, Macavity got his whatsfor, etc. But then the movie kept going? And Judi Dench started sing-talking directly at the camera?? It was very odd. Again, I'm sure this is from the stage show and makes sense for them to address the audience there, but through a movie screen... Not quite the same xD
By the end of the movie, I was tired with a headache, but also in awe. I'd say that I had a good time with the movie, and that it makes for an entertaining watch. It can get a little draggy, though, so be prepared for slow parts.
Also, according to my sister, the movie actually has more a plot than the original stage show? While the theater performance doesn't really have a main character, in the movie the perspective is kept on Victoria as she explores her new surroundings. I like this choice, as it makes things easier to follow, and it makes sense for Victoria as she's the "new kid on the block" so to speak, so the audience can discover with her. Macavity also has more appearances in the movie than in the show, so I've been told, which better introduces him as a villain. He has more moments of sneaking about, kidnapping cats, and showing off his magical abilities, so that when he steals away Deuteronomy, there's better lead-up to it.
I think that's about all I have for now; much like the movie, my thoughts and feelings do not follow one train of thought, and they may be sloppy from lack of thorough editing (I heard that there's just a guy in a hoodie in the background at one point? And I think I saw him?? I didn't know what I was seeing at first, but then I passed it off as the train cat as he was wearing a full outfit and hat covering his ears. But yeah no, I might have witnessed a human man just sitting in the background at one point. Watch this movie before they fix that and Judi Dench's hands). But I respect the film for what it did accomplish, and I'd recommend it to anyone who's curious and is prepared for a very unique trip xD
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Post by Twillie on Feb 2, 2020 16:02:15 GMT -5
Last night I got to watch Bad Boys For Life, and while I'm not sure if it's on anyone's radars here, I still feel like rambling x3 I've never seen any of the previous Bad Boys films, although I am familiar with some of its famous cinematography shots and the basic premise. I didn't really need any backstory to understand this film though, and there were a couple others watching that didn't even know there were other Bad Boy films until after we got out. With some of the references and callbacks they make in this film, you can kinda tell that it all came from somewhere before, but the movie doesn't expect you to any of this beforehand.
It's been a while since I've seen a hard R film haha, this film definitely earns that rating. Language and drugs I have no problem with, but it's always the violence/gore that can make me squeamish. This film has a lot of that, although nothing that genuinely disturbed me as it's all either played for laughs, or goes by very fast. At the same time, though, this means a lot of the violence came as a surprise (I refuse to say jumpscare). This didn't bother me so much (honestly that was a lot of the fun of this movie), but I know for some that can be annoying x3
But yes, this movie was admittedly very fun! A lot of parts were genuinely funny, although don't expect real high class humor haha. Also looool they took a page out of Michael Bay's book in the best way, the camera work and action were very extra and tons of fun to watch. The soundtrack as well suckered me in, I'm gonna have to look it up later >>
As I'm in a Spanish speaking country right now, when we went to the film at a theater playing it in English with Spanish subtitles. Funnily enough, though, the original English version is already, like, half in Spanish as the villains are from Mexico speak most of their lines in Spanish. So, I couldn't really tell you much about their scenes, are those ones did not come with English translation xD
I'm not a fan of the witch angle they took with the main villain, though. That's something a lot of media likes to do, take pagan/witch/other fringe religion iconography and immediately code it as evil or "of the devil." And while this movie didn't lean too hard into this so as to try and preach, it was not nuanced in using what I assume was a lot of traditional Mexican symbolism and witchcraft stuff to say "it looks spooky, so it must be ebil!!"
That was my biggest gripe with the film, although like I said not the first time I've seen it done (I say wearily), and it didn't ruin the whole film for me. If you're into fun action films and don't mind a hard R rating, I would recommend!
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Post by June Scarlet on Feb 6, 2020 19:50:42 GMT -5
Epithet Erased by JelloApocalypse, Season 1, originally released on VRV, but also completely available on Youtube. An animated series, the first season is 7 episodes long, with each episode being twenty-something minutes long. Rating around pg-13. A spoiler-free review, but I'll still spoiler it in case you want to go in completely blind. tl;dr: I really enjoyed it. One in five people in this world are inscribed with an Epithet, a single word that determines your magical abilities and attacks. There's Epithets like Barrier, where the user can create barriers, but there's also epethets like Dumb and Soup, which are used surprisingly effectively by the people wielding them.
The first four episodes follow our girl Molly as she faces bad guys in the museum after hours. Her epithet is the aforementioned "dumb," which makes things simpler or quieter. She gains confidence in herself as she figures out clever ways to defend herself, and even befriends some people there.
The next three episodes are a different scene and focus on different characters. I'd suggest watching the first four together, then you can take a break before watching the final three. Basically, if you liked the first four episodes set in the museum, you'll want to watch these too, and if you didn't like the first four, I guess this would be a good stopping point.
The writing and voice acting is great, a lot of fun, and clever and such. But let's talk about the animation. It's... cheap animation? But not low-quality, or QUALITY, as we call it around here. A lot of times it's stills of the characters bouncing around. But it's really well done? It's got a real charm about it, really. I've seen others works of JellyApocalypse's, like when he does a short parody of a video game or show, so I was already used to his style. What I had to get used to were the overhead bird-eye view shots, where little cards of the characters move around the screen. But I got used to it pretty quickly, and it was an effective way to show where everyone was in placement of each other. It's very high-quality cheap animation.
They did use a few words I wouldn't use around the forum, which is why I rated it pg-13 and didn't link directly to it. However, it was occasional, I can only actually remember one instance, and it wasn't the worst language you can use either.
All in all, I really enjoyed this series, and I'm looking forward to more episodes if they get to happen. And if you end up watching this series, hey, let me know, maybe we can discuss it!
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Post by Liou on Feb 7, 2020 16:52:37 GMT -5
Bombshell The 2019 biographical film about women of Fox News coming forth and exposing CEO Roger Ailes for sexual harassment. It centers mainly around Gretchen Carlson and Megyn Kelly, though they were not involved in the making of the film. I will not discuss heavy themes in detail here, but this is a film about workplace sexual harassment, about Fox News, and about, you know, the whole 2016 thing. The performances were probably the most memorable part of the film for me. I'm not at all familiar with Megyn Kelly and Gretchen Carlson, so I don't have a frame of reference for Charlize Theron's and Nicole Kidman's performances, but I did appreciate them a lot. People involved in highly publicised media affairs can start to seem like characters when they're constantly appearing in media. This film showed us these women in a much more human way, with their daily lives and families.
The events are shown through their arcs and points of view, through the different and the similar ways in which their lives are affected. Very few scenes are outdoors, most of the shots are close ups, the camera stays very close to the characters overall in an almost oppressive way, giving the entire film an almost claustrophobic feel.
Nicole Kidman as Gretchen Carlson plays a woman who has lost her position and is finding her bearings outside the company, Charlize Theron as Megyn Kelly plays a woman who is trapped in a high but dangerous position due to media coverage of politics. Both of them are experienced, but the memories of their background and the beginning of their career still seem very present.
The performance that affected me most in Bombshell must be Margot Robbie's. She plays a composite fictional character whose story is an amalgamation of several unnamed real people: Kayla Pospisil, a rookie who has just arrived and started down the same road that the other two women once walked. Her arc is a representation of what most of the women in this film have been through - and even outside Bombshell, I think this character can represent what a multitude of women have faced and continue to face. A moment I found especially strong was when Kayla is in the middle of a series of encounters that lead her further into workplace abuse, and a scene opens on her face, looking so dead inside that I felt heartbroken for her in a second, and the very next second, the ring of her phone announced a dreaded call.
I was also impressed by the performance of John Lithgow as Roger Ailes, as a boss and an abuser. I thought that the film, without excusing him or making him sympathetic, showed just how normal and human an abuser can seem, living a normal life while doing terrible things. The positive aspects of his influence and the genuinely positive sides of his relationships with the women depicted in the film were highlighted, and it's important to have complex, realistic portrayals of abusers, instead of black-and-white caricatures that make them more difficult to recognise.
Some of the negative points I saw about this film were in the pacing of the story. There were times when this film felt more like a documentary than a feature film to me, with rises and drops in tension but no clear crisis. I entirely expected that, though. This is a retelling of real, recent events, and to shift the events into a more dramatic narrative would have done the story and the people involved in it a disservice.
Making a film about such recent events is a challenge. On Megyn Kelly's Youtube channel, there is a video in which she discussed the film with a panel of other former Fox hosts who were depicted in the film, featuring their reactions during and after a screening. I won't link directly from the forum due to heavy topics, but I have watched it and I'm glad she posted it. It was interesting to hear them discuss what the film took liberties with, what the film got overwhelmingly right, and to see Megyn Kelly's supportive husband irl. From what I gathered, Megyn Kelly took a more active part in the legal battle and had more control over her lines than what I recall from the film. Liberties were also taken with events and the timeline. The emotional impact, however, seemed dead-on.
One of the panel - Julie Zann, I think - mentioned that the abuse had been worse than what was shown in the film. It makes sense to me that we would only see the tip of the iceberg. On one hand, as she says, it's like the film let Ailes off easy. On the other hand, the abuse scenes are shocking - even for a viewer who is entirely aware of the contents of the film and goes in fully prepared. Part of this is due to the performances, but also, I think, to the pacing of the scenes, which is agonisingly slow during the grooming phase, full of dramatic irony. After all that buildup, the moment when the line of decency is explicitly crossed becomes almost intolerable. Seeing a probably toned-down version of the abuse in the film did not prevent me from perceiving that it had really been worse, at the time I was viewing it. Having more shocking moments in the film might have been more realistic, but it might also have prevented me from taking in the rest of the story, as I would have mentally distanced myself while it was all sinking in. tl;dr Important film, great acting, many feels for women who experience harassment, led me to discover interesting things about the people portrayed.
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Post by Liou on Feb 21, 2020 5:47:59 GMT -5
The SelectionSeries by Kiera Cass Q: Liou what are you doing reading silly teen romance A: you see, at the moment I have this little problem with books that I'm very keen on, in that I *cannot finish them*. I saw this series being borrowed and returned a bunch of times, and the covers caught my eye. They are plain but consistent in their design, same model, perhaps same photoshoot, patriotic colours... I wanted to see what the fuss was about, and whether I would throw the book across the room before finishing. The Selection is a trilogy of "YA" (teen, imo) books, followed by a duology for the next generation of characters, topped with secret side stories. The premise of the story: (get ready) after a couple of world wars, the USA have become a monarchy. So there's like, a king. And his son is the prince, and he's going to be king. The son (prince) needs to get married , to a wife, before he gets crowned king. (Yeah there's thrones and crowns for real. And also a queen sitting somewhere in the background.) And the prince's bride gets! to be! selected through! a nationwide reality TV show.
See, if I had picked this up in 2012, I would have said: Wow, this is just too much! Silly teen books, who do they take me for?
2020-me read this premise and thought: Yeah, sure. That checks out.
We follow a protagonist named... *inhale* America Singer. I was very, very disappointed that her nickname was not "Murica".
After the whole Twilight business, what I feared from this novel was a protagonist who was so much of an everygirl that she had no personality to even try to relate to. It's okay! This one does have a personality. Some of her choices even made sense, especially around the start of the series.
America is from a poor family with several siblings and she loves them very much. The family is poor because they're from one of the lower castes, which limits their professions only to artistic domains. So it's a country where the circumstances of one's birth determine the education they can receive and their future life. Dystopia, amirite.
As the prince is about to be of age, girls in their late teens have a chance to submit their profiles for a realmwide paper version of Tinder. One girl from each state gets swiped-right and gets to join the titular Selection. Which doesn't only mean a reality TV show depicting their moments living in a palace and learning old timey etiquette, but also that they get servants and get to wear fancy, handmade dresses all the time. Their entire wardrobe is handmade. And the girls' families get an allowance, which is pretty juicy for candidates from lower castes. (In this system, the father-king has to abdicate when his son is ready, by the way. He's not too pleased about that or planning to stay out of the picture.) (Also he's abusive and like, the main jerkface of the book, just to get this out of the way.)
America enrolls in the Selection at her mother's behest. Because, as everyone except she has noticed, she's very pretty, she gets picked as her state's candidate. But! She didn't want to enroll originally, okay? She doesn't fangirl over the prince at all, not like the other girls! She's faithful to her boyfriend Aspen and she only enrolls because he allows her to. And then he dumps her. So America stays in the Selection in hopes of making the country a better place, because she knows what it's like to be poor, and she has heard the voices of the people, and she is so nice to her new servants who adore her.
During the Selection, the prince gets to flirt - in a PG way, okay - with each girl in turn, and can tell each of them that she's his favourite because why not. America is definitely his favourite, though! Because of her fiery temper. But you understand, he must go through with the whole Selection process, and she must hang in there while he flirts with all the others, because it's their duty. The nice girls are nice. The mean girls are mean. There is obligatory tension and gossip around the prince, but it feels very manufactured. The group end up bonding as ~sisters~ by experiencing the Selection together. The Meanest Girl is a magnificent Piece of Work. (And it was very confusing for me that she was named Celeste.) In the third book she reveals her insecurities and becomes the team's tame pet bully and everyone is okay with her. The redemption, albeit hasty, did feel nice, because of course there had to be more depth to this person, except that in the final riot scene, she is the first to be targeted and is still effectively punished by the narrative.
Some of the negative points I saw about this book is that the characters act like self-centered idiots. I can confirm that they certainly do! You have sheltered teenagers (America is from The Poor People but never had information on world politics) who have some dim awareness of how the government works - good for them, because the reader is certainly never told - and start making brilliant plans to fix the country and the rebellion, but pause in those plans and storm off whenever they feel like their personal needs are not being considered. And I say, excellent. I certainly did not pick up this book to read about level-headed adults. Give me my hormonal drama queen teens so that my own inner teen can relate to them, dangit! This book knows its target audience.
You've heard of the obligatory YA novel rebellion, now get ready for two separate rebellions, for the price of one! A bad rebellion to serve as antagonists, and a good rebellion that the protagonist could stand up for, because they happened to like her, even though she was one of the palace girls playing along with the monarchy. Over the course of the books, the rebellions invade the palace repeatedly - yes, the actual royal palace. Like termites that keep coming back. This palace has a real rebel problem.
Hold on, I need a drink. Okay.
The bouts of rebellion function as a break in the dating-dressmaking-etiquette routine of the Selection, because everyone in the palace needs to rush into secret shelters to hide until the attack is over, and that's where characters can fear for each other and be relieved and comfort each other and magically get over their previous conflicts.
As expected, there was an obligatory love triangle between the protagonist and the two main bois. (There were more fleeting, temporary triangles popping here and there due to the prince-chooses-a-bride setting, but these do not count.) Aspen, America's ex, from an even poorer family than hers in the same town, just had to become a palace guard and to be assigned to guard America's corridor, because these things are just so likely to happen. The cool thing, though, is that America had been dumped by him and got over it and decided to participate in the Selection before all this, and although there was still waffling over her feelings, these two ended up having more of a friendship. There was no realistic possibility of them ending up together, and that put him in more of a confidante role, and mitigated the more annoying aspects of love triangles.
The worldbuiding remains vague throughout, though to be fair, the focus is not on it, and I doubt the target audience is one very much interested in realistic politics. The gender roles in this book remain pretty terrible. To take just one example from the beginning, America brings nice homecooked food to her secret boyfriend because she is one entire caste above him and he needs it and is way poor, and he gets offended, because it wounds his pride as a man to have to take food from her. Nuff said. Although the protagonist ends up symbolising change and a new hope and all that, we still go from monarchy to... monarchy, but with nicer people in charge. The main concrete change is that the caste system is abolished... gradually. tl;dr the Selection is a fitting read if you are feeling self-indulgent, nostalgic, want to get in touch with your inner teen. Stories today are often all about subverting the tropes, but sometimes it's good to get back to a story that plays the old tropes straight, to put them into perspective.
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Post by Celestial on Mar 7, 2020 8:50:39 GMT -5
Stand on Zanzibar By John Brunner
I was initially sold this book as "it predicted the 21st century with spooky accuracy!" and naturally, I was intrigued. I am very skeptical of stuff that people claim has "predicted the future", because usually either the predictions are coincidence that people are reading too much into or vague enough to mean anything. So I found the book in my university library and gave it a read.
And...yes, I will grant it this: if you cherrypick, you can find plenty of examples of stuff that the book predicted will be common in the 21st century. However, it entirely ignores the context of those things within the book and reality. They are not surprising to anybody who is familiar with the 60s (the time this book was written). By contrast, issues that were not on the radar in the 60s, such an environmentalism, are not even mentioned (whales are said to have gone extinct in the 80s...but in the real world we have a moratorium and the humpback was taken off the endangered species list in 2016). Meanwhile, some things sound like accurate predictions until the context hits. Like fear of terrorism in America...but the fear is certainly not of Chinese communist subversives in California. Eugenics, which is a massive thing in the book, is not a thing either, and we are not overcrowded with 7 billion people in the world.
Let's look at some in-detail examples of "predictions". Take the widespread acceptance of homosexuality. In the book, it is portrayed as a pragmatic thing, a way of encouraging people to have fewer children. In the real world, it's because we've realised that hey, maybe gay people also deserve basic human rights too, yo? Other things, such as the legalisation of drugs and casual sex can easily be traced back to historical trends that were current in the sixties that the author just extrapolated upon. Especially in regard to casual sex, the way Brunner predicted it...well, he says that in 2010, there is an organised network for women to list themselves as transient and shack up with strange men for a place to live. One could pin that on the theme of overpopulation and housing being scarce...but that's a thing only available to women?
Speaking of which, the book suffers very much from what I call "straight white man syndrome". Namely, all the characters in the book except the straight white men feel less like characters and more like stereotypes. Especially the women. They exist as sexy set dressing, with almost uncomfortable attention paid to how pretty and naked and sexy they are. There is a hideous amount of male gaze which just screamed that the book was written by a straight man. One female character I kept expecting to have a bigger role in the story but was just...there for sexy times. She was also grossly exoticised as a minority character. The minority characters were at least tolerable (and my favourite ended up being Norman House, the black executive) although they did talk a lot about how much they disliked white people a bit too much for it to feel natural. I say this being as white as cream myself, but so was the author. It felt instead like the sort of thing a white man would imagine black people would say. There is also some element of "magical black people" in the ending which is...weird.
Oh, and there is one character who is clearly an author avatar. He is a sociologist spouts a lot of cynical talk about just how awful and irredeemable humanity is. Everyone in the book is in awe of his deep insight. To me, he came off as a pretentious, self-hating jerk who feels like he is smarter than everyone else in the book.
Despite my gripes, I am glad I read this book. I can admire what it got correct about the future, whether intentionally or otherwise. It certainly paints an intriguing picture of a future world, and the way it was written is genuinely fascinating. It isn't just plot: there are pieces of unconnected worldbuilding scattered throughout the book which give a very good overview of the world. The author has clearly thought a lot about this future. Just the way he thought is splayed all over this book. It is obvious that this is the vision of one man, and one man is unable to comprehend the vast, huge forces at work in the planet which made his 2010 a different beast from what it really became. The features that the two share are products of a natural evolution, not any oracular foresight by him.
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Post by Liou on May 5, 2020 13:28:49 GMT -5
Impulsively watched Hustlers. It was cute, it was adorable, it was sad, it was scary and stressful, it was cute and sad again. (Spoilered for length and minor spoilers)
A lot of the time, it felt like the story was moving through its beats like a checklist. Intimidating first night, check. Spectacular entrance, check. Bonding, check. Things get better, check. Things fall apart, check.
Some events that would be considered important and life-changing were shown in brief snaps, while music montages of party nights danced on and on.
That pacing was fine by me for a few reasons.
Firstly, because the story is told through the narration and flashbacks of Destiny's present conversation with Elizabeth the journalist. The important events, family-related, education-related, that are conventionally considered to be life's milestones, do not always form lingering memories. Sometimes people prefer not to dwell on these memories, and sometimes the events are too shocking and confusing to leave a clear imprint. Meanwhile, moments of carefree enjoyment can be remembered in far greater detail.
The other reason is that most of the apparently important events were pushed to the background by what is, in my eyes, the primary story: the relationship between Destiny and Ramona.
The chemistry between them is magnificent. Destiny, quiet, observant and a bit reserved, is effectively the point-of-view character. She could have been outshined by the dazzling Ramona, but she has a fire to her that shines especially in scenes that require swift decisive action. Constance Wu also shines in the present time interview scenes, where she is not a point of view character and more dominant.
Casting a world pop superstar in a film sounds like a risky move, and in this case it was perfect. J. Lo gives Ramona a powerful magnetic charm and makes her believable as someone who reels in everyone around her. At times she seems larger-than-life and movie-like, which, to me, works as a reminder that the story is seen through someone else's recollections. At other times she shows subtle vulnerability, like she needs Destiny and her other fledglings just as much as they need her. The moment when she explains and justifies the hustle, in particular, sounds like she is justifying it to herself just as much as to Destiny.
The movie does feel a bit long as the actual hustle plot takes a while to pick up. To its credit, that leaves plenty of time to establish Destiny's and Ramona's characters and allows us to care for them before we see what they go through and how it changes them. It's important to see the cruel treatment that Ramona received before we see her mirror it in the way she treats others.
Their relationship is a treat and I anticipated every scene that would have them meet on screen almost as much as they did. Their first scene together, in which Ramona quite literally takes Destiny under her wing, is especially cute.
Shoutout to the entire female cast and how adorable they are together. Lizzo and Cardi B fit in pretty well.
It's almost too much, too obviously movie-like, the way they all lavish their affections for each other and ladies' fun times upon the viewer. But they are lovable, which makes things all the more stressful when some of them start taking more risks.
Shout out for a little scene that I found especially touching. It's when the ladies who first took part in the hustle start to win money steadily and each uses it to get what she's been needing, and the youngest is simply shown in her own apartment, safe, her own roof over her head, her cat to pet in it. That's it, that was all.
"But Liou, wasn't Hustlers a stripper movie?"
Yeah! Yeah, it is. And I've already written all these paragraphs without a single mention of stripping. And that, in itself, shows just how much more there is to this film, so there! The strippers during stripping scenes are framed with more respect than in most music videos. The magical wonders of a female director~~~
The story was based on the story of a woman named Roselyn Keo who engaged in similar activities with one Samantha Foxx, and which was told in an article by Jessica Pressler. The way the film framed this story as an interview with a journalist, in flashbacks, snippets of separate conversations with Ramona, possibly unreliable memories and narration, seems like a fitting tribute to the original article.
tl;dr- watch Hustlers if you like to watch lots of women being lovely to each other and are okay with seeing the setting of the story (and if you are old enough to watch it in your country)
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Post by Liou on May 25, 2020 16:16:40 GMT -5
Rosewater (The Wormwood Trilogy, part 1) by Tade Thompson (A book for adults! with bad words and all)
Have you read about aliens before? About telepaths? You might have! But have you read about aliens and telepaths... in Africa??
Mid-21st century, an alien biodome pops up in Nigeria and starts to miraculously heal people, and little by little, a doughnut-shaped city called Rosewater grows around it. The installation of the city is described in detail, not through any large infodump, but through tidbits about areas that the protagonist visits, for instance. The author seems to know details on how every building and street was built. While Rosewater is a new city, it exists several decades in the future, and the technology that people live with in that era is also expanded upon. (Smarthomes, self driving cars, holograms that work...) Their drawbacks are sometimes shown, but more like inconvenient glitches than philosophical spirals on technology and humanity. If you like philosophy in your scifi, concerning humanity, and humanity and aliens, this gets interesting, though. So much that I can't say more. =o
Tade Thompson easily immerses us in Nigerian culture. Of course I cannot tell how accurate his depiction is, but it certainly feels vivid, and approachable for foreigners reading about it for the first time. Through proverbs, transport, family traditions, social expectations, food, idioms and more.
We follow this dude called Kaaro, and he's a lazy jerk. The book makes a point of revealing and expanding upon all his flaws and jerkery, actually! So there can be no doubt. He's also witty, practical, overly sassy, makes references like a futuristic hipster, a super telepath, and 200% #done. He was especially terrible as a young hooligan, and the story runs the risk of making him unredeemable, until a special encounter and a redemption that I'm not sure was earned, but was at least a good starting point.
The story jumps back and forth in time a lot. A lot! It hops between the present, Kaaro's youth, other scenes in-between, sub-flashbacks to explain certain things in the present. I saw that some readers had been put off by the time jumps. Personally, they didn't bother me while reading at all.
Even though I'd have a hard time summing up the entire plot of the story to you as it's hardly linear, while I was reading, the chapters flowed easily into each other: each time jump had a thematic connection, almost like a stream of thought. There is a plot, albeit folded over itself and layered like an accordion. On the menu: teenage crime, telepathy-induced crime, military training of doom, working for the men in black*, wriggling out of work, wriggling out of social engagements, telepathic duels on the alien astral plane. A few plot threads seem like they weren't fully explored, though, or may have been references to some of the author's other works. (*actually the woman in white) Yes, I just said telepathic duels on the alien astral plane. There's a big alien astral plane, and it's customisable in the same way as a SecondLife server. Yes, the avatars too. You get used to it. Why not have psychic battles in your alien scifi? There are strong female secondary characters alongside Kaaro, and I mean actually strong characters, not "Strong"(tm). (Not that the bar is set high or anything.) The ladies often act as foils for Kaaro, and at least one of them seems strongly based on certain tropes, but I was pleased with their writing. The action scenes are highly visual, reminiscent of action movies, even of classic action movie shots and pacing at times. Scenes are framed and paced to put the protagonist in the role of the action hero, of course. It feels almost indulgent on the part of the author, and I saw that some readers disliked these cinematic descriptions in their literature.
I enjoyed that a lot, though, precisely because I indulge in writing visual action scenes, and I imagined/hoped the author had fun writing these, and that's always a plus while reading!
This story contains a good deal of body horror and gore. I wish I could say that it's justified, but a lot of it seemed quite gratuitous to me, actually. This is why I'm putting this in Mini-Reviews instead of Book Recs, after much hesitation. There's just too much violence and grimdark and squick.
Sometimes the body horror was from an alien point of view, or interesting in that it explored human and alien interaction. Sometimes it made the protagonist's backstory that much grittier. Sometimes it seemed like overly enthusiastic action movie special effects.
You know how a lot of science fiction is set in America by default, assumed to be set in America, or happens around the world but the last stand and humanity's last hope ends up being in America? Not this one!
In this story, America still exists somewhere. Maybe. It's mentioned a couple times, like a thing of the past. For a change. Also, Important!!!!! The dog gets a happy ending. I've just read part 2, The Rosewater Insurrection. Also liked. The plot thickens. Different character PoVs this time including ladies, interesting developments. Am quite hype for The Rosewater Redemption. tl;dr Interesting worldbuilding! Interesting alien biology! Cool philosophical humanity stuff! Characters good! Interesting culture! Elaborate plot! Mind the timeskips! Very violent gore grimdark! Adult!!!1!!
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Post by Ian Wolf-Park on Nov 9, 2020 13:07:40 GMT -5
Instead of participating in this week's Spirit Week, which is Video Games, I've decided to write a review for the video game backlog that I have. Here's is today's review Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth and Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth-Nintendo 3DS These two games are gaiden or side games to the main Persona series, a 'fusion' between the Etrian Odyssey and Persona series. While you don't have to play the Persona series (specifically, Personas 3, 4, and 5 and their remakes) in order to understand these games, some knowledge of the games will probably be useful.
Just a quick note here: the first game (using the Persona 3 and 4 casts) is dubbed, the second (involving the Persona 5 cast in addition to the returning crew) is not, as it was released during the final days of the 3DS era, but it shouldn't detract from the gameplay or story.
I found both games to be satisfying, even on the easiest mode, although one might find constantly changing changing your party to be a bit slow , especially if some of your members are severely underlevelled, even with the quests that appear.
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